Trading cards are cards having various figures printed thereon, and they are targeted for collection and/or used for card games. The trading cards are sold in such a style that a predetermined number of cards out of many kinds of cards in the same series are randomly packaged. Then, when a user obtains duplicative cards, he or she can exchange one of the duplicative cards to another card of another user, whereby the user can enrich his or her holding cards. Incidentally, a market is established for popular trading cards, and cards that are dealt at a high price exist.
A way of playing trading cards is different among game planning companies or selling companies. However, fundamentally, each of plural players brings a predetermined number of cards called as deck and arranges them at predetermined places to fight a battle according to a predetermined rule, thereby having a showdown.
In conventional card games, the games themselves are carried out between parties concerned, and thus it has been difficult for game planning companies or selling companies to have actual playing statuses of games except for a few opportunities such as game tournaments opened under the sponsorship of those companies. Moreover, the game planning companies or selling companies can make profits only when they sell cards. Accordingly, because games rapidly raise or lose their popularity, these companies miss the opportunities of selling the games or are saddled with an extremely large amount of stock, which causes unstable business management of the game planning companies or the selling companies. In addition, because game playing and/or card exchange is dependent on friendship of users in the real world, when there is no card collector of the same series cards around the user concerned, the user has little opportunity of playing a game and/or exchanging a card. Accordingly, there is a problem that the desire of the card collection does not easily rise.
In a video game or game using a network, game enjoying factors are limited to a range which is prepared in advance by a game provider, and when the function of the game itself is scanty, it is extremely difficult to win support from users. Moreover, in order to make users unwearied, it is required to renew the game contents continually, and a large amount of capital investment is needed. Furthermore, some degree of familiarity with the game is needed and thus time and labor are needed. On the other hand, when a user is familiar with the game, the user is bored with the game, and thus it becomes difficult to increase the population of users for the game.
As described above, the conventional card game, video game and the like also have a large problem in continuously acquiring users, and keeping and enlarging users' interests.
For example, JP-A-2000-157724 discloses a technique of accessing a server connected to a network by a game machine to play a game. JP-A-2001-62151 discloses a technique of assigning passwords to items obtained in the game the user played using the game machine, and delivering the items to another user. Furthermore, Laid-open European Patent Application No. 1134008A2 (or JP-A-2001-190849) discloses a technique when game elements are received and delivered between the user of a first game machine and the user of a second game machine. JP-A-2001-259227 discloses a technique of safely and reliably receiving and transmitting objects obtained during a game in a cellular phone communication game system. JP-A-2001-259228 discloses a technique of receiving and delivering objects obtained during a game in a cellular phone communication game system among an unspecified number of users.